Karaoke Guilt

Last night, I went to a fun party held by Jonny. There was some live music by people who knew what they were doing. When this part of the evening drew to a close, the floor was opened for anyone who felt like having a bash on an instrument or with their voice... towards the end of the night, it was just bad, bad karaoke. No one was even listening; most people had gone home. There were moments when the party could have come to a fitting end - Nathan and Fairlie's (The Steadfast Shepherd) impromptu mini-gig seemed like a great finale. But no, we needed to sing a few more terrible Powderfinger songs, and of course 'You Raise Me Up'. It was heaps of fun, but I felt a bit rotten when we finally went home.

This got me thinking about karaoke guilt. When I do karaoke, I'm usually left with a feeling, somewhat akin to committing a grave sin. Part of the reason is because I can never stop at just one song. It always feels natural to do several more, I suppose because nobody is leaping up to take the microphone from me. I think this feeling of seediness also comes from singing songs that are far beyond my (limited) range; knowing that I cannot sing something but doing it anyway, and being well aware that the "audience" are not enjoying it leads to a feeling of mild regret, along with the absence of humiliation (a feeling that should be present but isn't). Maybe it's all that, combined with the feeling you get when you stay up too late.

Does anyone else experience karaoke guilt? Or has anyone had any extra-bad karaoke moments?